Laying In Ashes
by Midnight E Siren
Summary: Central hasn't been the same since Edward died, someone's even disturbed the blond's final resting place, but there are rumors coming from the west about a slaughtered village and a blond haired, yellow eyed demon. They had to find out the truth. yaoi
1. Chapter 1

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE SERIES.

Setting: Post Anime, Movie never happened, some info from Brotherhood

Disclaimer: I do not own fullmetal or it's characters, but I do own the storyline used in this fanfiction.

Laying In Ashes

Chapter One

The ballroom was huge, gas lanterns were lit everywhere casting the balconies into shadow and making the darkness dance. An unbridled tension loomed in the very air, leaving everyone tense and agitated, Adrenaline rushed through his veins, anger, desperation and determination burned in his mind as he struck again and again. His hands clapped together, fully prepared to carve out the neck of the bastard. Fury burned through him when he saw his opponent, saw the violet eyes that taunted him and dared him to fight, made his blood boil. He pulled his hands away from one another, ducked and weaved, no alchemy and was served with a punch to the cheek that sent him sprawling.

The faces that he shifted through sent rage boiling through his veins, so many faces that made the guilt in his stomach churn, and the lump in his throat grow. They hurt, everything they said hurt, even though it wasn't really them. Every time those faces brought his worst fears to light it seemed like a wound in his chest got deeper, like someone was burying a knife deeper and deeper into his chest. Dodge again, just like Teacher taught him, strike, jump back out of range, but his opponent's range was far greater than his own. He flew backwards from a particularly hard knee to the gut, was thrown across the floor, and he got back up dashing after the bastard that taunted him.

He knew he wasn't strong enough, he wasn't fast enough, homunculi were built for speed and agility. They were the product of a failed human transmutation, they looked like the person that was supposed to be brought back, but they were soulless and twisted. The homunculus stopped, another gripping his leg, the blond came down on his distracted prey and slammed his fist into the other's face over and over and over and over. Their faces weren't what he needed to see, their words weren't what they needed to hear, he had to know, had to see the bastard's real face with his own eyes. Wanting to see the bastard's real face had become a damn obsession, he couldn't hide anymore, not after everything the homunculus had done.

"Do you really want to see?" a smirking grin that made him see red, made his fist fly again. "Then _you_ asked for it!"

A flash of white, so much like alchemy, and the homunculus's face was laid before him. Long blond hair, amber eyes, a sharp jaw and tenor voice, everything he saw in himself that reminded him whose son he was. Then the pain, the strangled gasp that was forced from his lips along with a mouthful of blood, but the spiked arm that jutted through his chest only hurt for a moment. He fell and bled, a pool of blood gathering beneath him, and he realized just how much it hurt to die. It wasn't a real hurt, like pain, it was a deeper thing, the realization that he could never go back, that he'd never be able to see anyone he loved ever again.

There was a scream, someone screaming his name trying to call him back and when he opened his eyes again he was. He was back in ballroom, the same stench hung in the air and the crackle of alchemic energy sizzled through the air like a looming reminder. A sudden feeling of loss, of pain and fury, another bright flash of alchemic light before it all went dark and faded away.

Hands ran down a dirty wall, covered in carvings and chalk marks. "…. dream?"

The man stood in a dark cave, every available surface covered with writing and drawings, some notes and others just wild sketches. His hands were filthy, covered in dirt and grime and blood, smearing the images that had been drawn onto the wall with his hands. He slid to his knees, further smudging the images on the walls and covering his hands in dirt.

"Where... ?" he looked around, vaguely recognizing his surroundings, he was in a large cave dimly lit by small cracks in the hill above.

Vines and other plants hung down from these cracks like they were reaching down to him, he raised his hands towards them. Maybe they could save him, get him out of this place, maybe they could reach down and pluck him up from where he sat. Not on their own, but maybe if he fixed them they could, maybe if he made them better, he grabbed his chalk again and started working. The thoughts flew through his head, some more important than others before something made him stop. A hollow feeling in his chest made him drop his chalk, and the hollow spot slowly grew, he had to complete the circle.

Complete the circle and the ache will go away, complete it and then he wouldn't be sad anymore. He went over to a semi-clear piece of floor and started working, his hands were steady and the circle came out just like it had in his mind.

"Wait... " a scream inside his head sent him to the floor covering his ears, a bright flash of light behind his eyes made them burn. "Come _back_... "

Then it was gone, _everything_.

What would happen if someone tried to put a dog and a canary together? His new thought made him curious, so he stood and started drawing again pushing his wild yellow hair from his eyes. Dirty hands worked swiftly on the circles, on the notes and the possible appearances of such a union before another thought grabbed his attention. Someone with pretty blond hair and amber eyes, their face was vague in his mind's eye, but when he started drawing it was clear enough. He only got through half of the face, and then just didn't feel like finishing it so he dropped it in favor of working on another circle.

A sudden commotion echoed through the cavern, voices that he didn't recognize, but sent fury boiling through his veins. This was his place, people didn't belong here, no one had any right to come to his place. Then there were people sleeping all around him, something warm and sticky was seeping through his fingers and dripping down his face. Sunlight glared into his eyes and made him step back, uncertain of it. He was in a village, there was a little girl crying, the warm had dried now and itched.

She spoke to him, and he was angry, more screams, more sticky wet stuff on his hands. Then everything was quiet, so very quiet, there were people sleeping in the streets and they wouldn't be happy if they woke up in the road. He put them all into their places, so they wouldn't wake up angry and then he went back to his cave. A new circle came up in his mind and he started drawing again, there was a loud sound, but he ignored it. Check on it later, that's what he'd do, he'd check on it after he finished his new circle.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Remembrance

Spring was a warm occasion, and not much had changed in eight years at Central Headquarters. Havoc tried to get a girl, Armstrong showed off his physique, Mustang stole the girls Havoc tried to get, and Hawkeye pointed a gun at Mustang 's head until he finished his paperwork. Not much had changed, but enough had, Mustang lost his left eye in his battle with Pride, and Havoc had given up smoking for some girl. There was also the distinct lack of a fiery, blond haired, yellowed eyed alchemist that they all came to treasure. Not even the cooler tempered younger brother came around Central much anymore.

Remembering this, Mustang's hand slowed to a stop mid-signature, catching Riza's attention along with the faint frown. "Sir?" she inquired, amber eyes serious.

The General shook his head trying to remove the memories that plagued him, of the fiery blonde bursting into his office and demanding something of him. Riza's gaze softened, and she took the stack of papers that Mustang had finished to be filed, allowing the man a few minutes to himself.

"Alphonse contacted Headquarters yesterday, he said that he'll be making a trip into Central." He swiveled around in his chair and stared out the large picture window behind his desk, looked at the blue sky and the wispy clouds. "He should be here in about an hour for any updates."

With that she left, leaving the General to his thoughts. If Alphonse was coming to Central it meant that he had a lead and needed confirmation, he had never been one to go after a half-assed lead. If too much was left to question, the younger Elric wouldn't risk it and it was in that sense that Roy was reminded of Edward. While the elder brother chased after every lead without question, Alphonse had learned from it and didn't do the same. Over the last eight years, he'd found anyone and everyone to tell him of their adventures and he knew a great deal of Ed's brushes with death.

In the last eight years, Alphonse had made a spectacle of himself, a country wide renowned alchemist without being with the state and also a family man. The twenty-three year old Elric decided shortly after Edward's death that he would take care of Winry, and eventually married her while still on the search for a way to bring his brother back. Of the last he'd heard of them, Winry had given birth to a healthy little boy and was cheering her husband on as he searched. Fury burned through him at the thought of what had happened, the day after the Fullmetal Alchemist's funeral had commenced both in Central and Resembool. When noon rolled around that day eight years ago, no one could believe what they heard, that someone had desecrated the blond's final resting place in Resembool.

When inspected, Edward's body was nowhere to be found, the coffin had been ripped open and everything inside stolen. Roy also remembered the place where they had found Edward and Alphonse, a giant underground city completely void of people. Alphonse was awake and trying to revive his brother, back in the body of a ten-year-old with no memories. Why the Gate hadn't taken Ed's body, he couldn't tell, but it had taken everything else. A few organs were missing from the teen's body, and the automail ports had disappeared leaving exposed flesh.

Rose told them the rest of the story, that Al had used the philosopher's stone to bring Edward back in a complete body and that the elder Elric had returned the gift his brother had given him. He had given his life, mind, soul, arm, and leg to get his brother back as a ten-year-old with no memories. The Gate was a greedy thing that asked for too high a price, but a knock on Roy's office door shook him from his musings. Hughes walked in, tall, dark haired and hazel eyes serious, Roy knew that look and he knew his old friend was upset.

"Hughes, what's wrong?" Roy asked as his companion plopped down on one of his couches, the serious look still in place.

It took Maes a long time to reply and when he did it almost scared Roy. "I need a watch on someone, and I need it fast." the deadly tone to Hughes's voice put the Flame Alchemist on edge, his hands itching to reach for his gloves so he'd be ready for trouble.

The air in the room tensed and crackled with suspense, and a million thoughts ran through Roy's mind. Could Hughes have found a lead as to who had stolen Edward's remains? It had been on all of their minds and their mission since the incident eight years ago, Alphonse hadn't stopped and neither would the ragtag team of Central Command. In between work and missions they'd all kept tabs on any possible leads, Hughes in particular due to his specialty in information.

"A watch? What do you mean Maes?" Roy questioned, standing and pulling out his gloves feeling comforted when the rough material was set snugly over his hands. "Do you have any leads we should check?"

"No, nothing like that, but I need that watch soon Roy, lives are at stake." finally his friend looked him in the eyes, trying to portrait the severity of the problem through a look.

"What happened Maes?" Roy demanded, Hughes sighed rubbing his temples tiredly and the General saw the bags under his best friend's eyes.

"It's... " Hughes looked uncomfortable, almost disgusted. "It's Elicia... "

Mustang's heart froze, what could have happened to the little girl under her father's constant care? "SHE'S GOING ON A DATE!" Maes wailed finally.

"_What_."

"Elicia! She's going on a _date_ Roy!" Hughes screeched, flailing his arms back and forth. "WITH AN OLDER BOY! What am I supposed to do? I have to watch this kid twenty-four seven so he can't _defile_ my beautiful little girl!"

"Hughes." finally the informant stopped his ranting and flinched away from the furious look his best friend was throwing at him. "How old is this boy?"

"He's fourteen, Roy! FOURTEEN!" Hughes shouted, flailing his arms again. "You know what those little snots have on their minds! My darling girl!"

Mustang then proceeded to try and light Maes's hair on fire while the Brigadier General continued to rant about how his darling daughter was going on a date with a boy a whole year older. A soft knock made them both pause and look towards the door, with a stern tone Mustang permitted entrance and was surprised when Al poked his head in. He still had that soft look to his face, but it had been hardened by experience and probably from chasing around a two-year-old. His amber eyes had gotten darker, closer to golden brown and his hair had lightened a bit still cut short and parted at the side like his mother. Al smiled sheepishly when he sensed the tension in the air and filed into the office with an armful of papers and folders.

"Alphonse." Mustang greeted after dumping his best friend down on the couch and turning his attention to the younger Elric. "How have you been? You haven't been in Central for a while."

"Hello, General Mustang, Brigadier General Hughes. I've been good, been chasing a lead in the west up near Drachma." Al replied, giving a warm smile that made both Roy and Hughes crack one as well. "It might be nothing, but I was wondering if you could check it out for me."

Mustang chuckled a little at Al's nervousness. "You don't have to worry about asking me for help, Alphonse. You're always welcome here." he smiled again and took a seat at his desk. "Maes, mind being some help for once?"

"Sure, hand it over Al." Hughes held out a hand for the papers and when he got a hold of them he flipped through them casually. "Hm, the west part of the country is in turmoil, I'm surprised that you actually got into and out of Drachma without getting shot."

Al gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head. "Promise not to tell Winry?"

"Have you gone to the hospital yet?" Hughes exclaimed sharing Roy's shocked expression.

"Yes, yes! I promise I did, so don't worry about me!" Al threw his hands up in surrender. "I wasn't even really getting shot at, it was just a graze!"

"Alphonse, you're as crazy as your brother." Mustang sighed, leaning back in his chair with a tired look.

Al was silent at that and when he looked up the Elric had a determined look in his eye, something that all the Elrics possessed. "The information sounds solid enough, Al. In fact it sounds like a pretty good lead, where did you get this?"

"I heard rumors about someone bragging about getting a small fortune for digging up a corpse." he all, but spat catching Mustang's attention. "While I was talking to him, someone opened fire and he was killed, I got grazed by a bullet and ran away."

From what little the man had told him, he'd been paid to dig up the grave, but then a group of people immediately came and took the contents of it. He hadn't known who it was or if they'd had any family, he'd just done as he was told. Mustang seethed and asked what had been done with the man after he'd been shot, but Alphonse didn't know. The blond assumed that the people of Drachma disposed of him, he'd quickly rushed to the nearest hospital. They didn't ask him why he was hurt, but they'd tended his wounds quickly and painlessly.

"How long until it heals completely?" Mustang asked, eyeing the blond's side critically.

"Probably a week, I was told not to work too hard with it even though it's just a graze." he replied, placing a hand gingerly over the spot where his wound lay.

"How's the new Mrs. Elric? And the little one?" Roy inquired with a grin, his smile widening when Alphonse blushed.

"They're good, Winry was worried about not having time to work on her automail with the baby." Al replied, scratching the back of his head again. "We even took a day to visit Granny and Brother's graves before I left for Drachma."

"I heard that you'd gotten busy! What'd you name the baby?" Hughes inquired with a grin. "I bet he's absolutely adorable!"

"Edward." Mustang looked up and smiled at the younger Elric as said blond pulled out some family pictures and handed them to Hughes. "I thought Brother would like that."

When the pictures were passed to Roy he smiled down at them, he stopped on one where all three Elrics were posing together. Winry with her bright blond hair and blue eyes, then Alphonse with his blond hair and golden eyes. Their baby was a perfect mix of the two, his mother's platinum blond hair, father's innocent face and a set of blazing yellow eyes. He was adorable to say the least, and would look just like his father when he got older.

"He's adorable, Alphonse. You'll have to bring him and Winry to Central sometime so we can meet him." Mustang said, handing the pictures back to their owner.

"When Granny first heard that we were naming him after Brother, she laughed, saying that we were dooming ourselves to raising a mini Ed!" he laughed. "He's already trying to walk around the house, and getting into trouble. He broke one of Winry's favorite plates."

"Sounds like you really did cause a mini Edward." Hughes laughed, leaning back and stretching his arms along the back of the couch.

All of a sudden, Hawkeye burst in giving Al a sweet hello and then turning to Roy with a dangerous look in her eyes. The raven sighed when she set a stack of papers on his desk and started working on them, placing comments in the conversation when he could. While Alphonse was recounting one of little Edward's adventures the door burst open and Falman stood in the doorway saluting and breathing hard.

"General Mustang, Sir! There's been an incident!" Falman exclaimed.

"What's happened Falman?" Mustang stood up behind his desk, tensed and ready for whatever news he was about to receive.

"There's been news from the west about a town that's been out of contact with any of it's neighboring cities for about two weeks." he relayed quickly, straightening up some more. "There are rumors that the entire town has been massacred."

"Fuery! Get in here!" the timid man stumbled in, saluting clumsily.

Fuery's round and innocent face wasn't something most people would expect from a worker at Central Command, but he could do what he was told. He was shorter with cropped black hair and dark brown eyes, even dressed in the blue military uniform he didn't look like much.

"Please escort Alphonse to the lobby and see to it that he gets his information." Al's face betrayed his thoughts, he really wanted to know what was going on, but he obeyed Mustang's command and followed Fuery's lead.

"You're a civilian now Alphonse, and that means you don't have anymore ties to the military. It's one thing that I help you get information about those grave robbers, but this is official military business." Mustang assured Al before he got too far out the door. "If I hear anything I'll contact you, alright?"

"Thank you General." Alphonse smiled, relief in his features before he started toward the hall with Fuery. "My train leaves at five today for West City, so I probably won't be back in Central for a while. Be safe!"

"Thank you for coming here Alphonse, be safe and say hello to Winry and little Edward for me." With the younger Elric gone he could focus on more pressing matters, like the incident that Falman was reporting. "Second Lieutenant Falman, I want a full report." Mustang ordered in a no-nonsense tone, and he noticed out the corner of his eye that Riza was acting distracted.

"Sir, at 0600 hours this morning we received a report that a city called Misview in the west has cut any and all contact with towns outside of itself." he replied still stiff in salute, a loud crash distracted them outside where Fuery had returned and stumbled over a pile of books before they refocused. "Non-local relatives have had no contact with their loved ones and all the trade routes in and out of the town have completely shut down."

"Are there any witnesses of this?" Mustang inquired.

"A group of six men, four women, and five children came to town this morning with the news that they themselves were from the town." Falman replied relaxing his salute a bit. "They said that they barely escaped with their lives. This is what information we could get out of them, along with what was sent to us by Western Headquarters."

Mustang took the offered stack of papers and flipped through them, two caravans consisting of over a dozen people had gone missing while making deliveries. The town's inhabitants hadn't made contact with outside the village for over two weeks, and there were rumors of a man walking around covered in blood.

"I want to talk to these people, set up a few interrogation rooms, I want you, Havoc, and Breda with me. Riza, " The blonde straightened up and saluted. "Take the women, try to get some information out of them and the children."

They all headed downstairs, Falman, Havoc, Breda and Hawkeye all started downstairs to get their own witness and Mustang followed, curious. If these people really were from the village, then it would really be a big step in finding whoever had attacked them. When they reached the second floor they entered one of the conference rooms and sat down, a group of ragtag looking villagers sat inside. Of six men four were middle aged men, two elderly, of four women, one was elderly, one young and the other two middle aged, and then three children no older than eight with two infants. The children looked terrified, but the adults looked as if they saw this kind of thing all the time, the mothers tried to calm their children.

"My name is General Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, I've been told that you're the villagers from a town called Misview." Mustang inquired, taking a seat along with his team. "Lieutenant Hawkeye, can you take the mothers and children to another room please?"

At first the villagers were resistant, but with a bit of coaxing from Riza they followed her out the door. "Can you tell me exactly what happened?" Mustang urged the men, who all fidgeted uncomfortably.

A middle aged man spoke, with greying blond hair, a full beard and mustache, watery blue eyes, a strong chin and bulging with muscles. "We were attacked, more like massacred. It was just a normal day, the kids went off to school, we worked the fields and did our chores." he growled. "Then one of the boys, McKenzie's oldest boy, came running down from the hills with one of his buddies. They were always getting into trouble together."

"It was weird because they'd all gone up there, five or six boys altogether, but only two came down." another man said, this one shorter with chestnut hair and green eyes, but no lack of muscle. "They were screaming, terrified out of their minds and then... "

They all became quiet for a moment, lost in their memories. "Then we saw it." the blonde man spoke again. "It came at them so fast... the boys didn't even see it!

"Some of us charged it, but it was too fast. It tore the boys apart with it's bare hands, ripped the heads off of three men in just a few minutes. Then it just disappeared." he hung his head in his hands. "Panic erupted, everyone was trying to find a way out of the village, we were the only ones to get out."

"You say that your attacker was an 'it', but you say that this thing 'tore a man apart with it's bare hands'?" Mustang inquired slowly, trying to understand.

"It looked human sir, but no human could have done all that. No human being could just yank a man's head off!" the second man exclaimed.

"What did he look like?" Mustang urged, so far they'd given him a general idea of how this thing moved, but he needed more information.

"Like they said, it looked human. About five and a half feet tall maybe a bit less. Real thin, but had some muscle." the young man piped in, dusty brown hair falling into his chocolate eyes. "It wore all black clothes, with red tattoos on it's skin and had dead eyes."

"Anything else about this person you can tell us about?" Maes jumped in, the image of Envy was already firmly in his mind, they'd never found the homunculus and this sounded exactly like something he would do for fun. "What about hair and eye color?"

"Blonde." the first man replied, running a hand through his own grey blonde hair. "Long, golden blond hair, and bright yellow eyes. If I had met him on the street, I'd have said that he was your average kid."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: :D Hiii! Sorry for the wait... . I've been super busy with college finals and such but Christmas break has given me time to work on things! :D Hurray!

disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter Three

The Steps to Hell

Roy reeled when his brain actually processed the information, long blond hair and golden eyes. An image of the elder Elric brother flashed through his mind, but he quickly banished it. Blond hair was common in everyday society now, the yellow eyes were a bit rarer and he had only seen them on three people. So it _could_ be Hohenheim, since he had a knack for appearing and then disappearing, but the man didn't seem like the kind that would slaughter an entire village. When they left the villagers alone, he asked Riza to compile her findings with theirs and they set up a search team.

"Havoc, Fuery, I want you two to go and book the train. Fallman, inform a select team of troops to go with us to Western Headquarters. Breda, go and secure supplies and rations for the men. I want you all at the train station in two hours." Roy ordered briskly, dismissing each of the men until only he and Hawkeye remained. "Come on, Lieutenant, we have to inform the higher ups of where we're going."

"Sir, should we inform Alphonse of…" the blonde was cut off by her superior raising his hand. "Sir!"

"I'll deal with him later, but I do know that I don't want him anywhere near this." Roy replied, he didn't want to get the Elric's hopes up for no reason. "Ask one of the secretaries to inform him that I'll be late."

"General Mustang, Sir!" Riza urged pulling on the man's sleeve deploringly.

"What _is_ it Riza?" Mustang huffed turning to his Lieutenant.

"Alphonse said he was he was leaving for West City at five o'clock. He's not in the lobby anymore." she sighed. "He's going to get to the City before us."

Roy went quiet and thought for a few moments before he turned on his heel and rushed to the higher-ups' offices, determination clear on his face. Alphonse wasn't getting to West City anytime soon if he had anything to say about it.

* * *

><p>A whistle blew loudly, loud enough to make your chest vibrate with the sound and make your ears sting. The train station was bustling with travelers, merchants, army personnel and families all going to different places. They all lead different lives; all had different jobs, different lovers, husbands, wives, and children. Tall pillars held up the curved roof and the platforms were freshly swept that morning. Only three trains were in station then, one being the train that Alphonse was working on boarding, his luggage was being difficult <em>again<em>.

For some reason his luggage never wanted to stack in the overhead shelf and always managed to fall out and scare him while he was trying to doze. After he had wrangled his luggage into the overhead compartment, Alphonse stepped off the train for a few minutes to grab something to eat for lunch and nearly ran over an old woman in the process. Alphonse apologized and went back to the bread stand on the platform. The stand always seemed to have fresh rolls waiting whenever he was hungry for them. The woman who ran the stand knew him by now and gave him an extra roll because he was always smiling.

"-who knows? Could just be some crazy... " Alphonse paused mid sentence and turned, recognizing the voice immediately. "-blonde hair and yellow eyes…"

Alphonse's interest was piqued. Why were Havoc and Fuery calling him crazy? He excused himself from the baker woman and headed towards the two officers conversing beside an engineer surrounded by his fellows. They continued their conversation and didn't notice his approach and what he heard disturbed him a bit.

"Do you really think a single person could have slaughtered an entire village without help or weapons?" Havoc argued, he sounded annoyed. "No one could have done that much damage alone."

"I know that but it can't be anything else, whoever did it must either be very strong or very sneaky." Fuery replied before his shoulders slumped. "I just hate that the only description we have of him is blonde hair and yellow eyes. It's terrible that I keep thinking of Alphonse and his father."

Alphonse strode up and tapped Fuery on his shoulder causing the timid officer to squeak and whirl around. "Oh! Alphonse! W-what are you doing here?"

"My train's leaving for West City soon and I thought I'd grab some lunch before it left." Alphonse smiled and raised his bag of treats. "I saw you guys and heard you talking."

"Well how have you been Al? I haven't talked to you in a long time. You didn't stay at headquarters very long today." Fuery smiled but seemed uncomfortable.

"Why are you heading to West City?" Havoc asked casually, chewing on a toothpick trapped between his teeth; a habit he'd picked up after he quit smoking. "Not much to see up there."

"I might have a lead to finding Dad, last I'd heard he was seen there." Alphonse replied, confused when Havoc's eyebrows knitted together in a scowl. "So... why are you guys going to West City?"

"Official military business Al, sorry." Fuery replied sincerely before he was tapped on the shoulder by someone.

When he turned the man informed the shy officer that he had a phone call from Central Headquarters, Fuery groaned and followed reluctantly. Havoc chuckled at Fuery's retreating form before turning back to the confused Elric.

"Mustang's been riding all of us with this new case. Fuery's the go-to guy for reports on this one. He's supposed to be watching me." the tall blond man laughed at the idea, blue eyes sparkling. "Mustang says I hit on the ladies too much to focus on my work."

"You certainly do Havoc." at the voice, both blonde's straightened up and turned. "Why are you so surprised to see me? I am the head of this investigation."

"General Mustang, sir. Why _has_ Central headquarters been placed on the mission if it's in West City?" Alphonse greeted and questioned at the same time, his curiosity was piqued again. "Shouldn't West Headquarters be taking care of it?"

"I'm sorry Alphonse, but that's on a strict need-to-know basis and you don't need to know. All I can say is that I would advise against going to West City for the next week or two." Mustang replied black eyes hard and Al was sure that the suggestion was really an order. "There are things going on in the West that are a bit too dangerous for me to feel comfortable letting you run around Alphonse."

What surprised Al was not the ordering tone of Roy's voice but the worry of it, the corners of his mouth turned down and his golden eyes narrowed. Mustang could have a presence that silenced a room in mere seconds, rally a crowd into a dangerous frenzy and instill absolute loyalty into the wildest of beasts. There was also something about Mustang looking scared that made Al's stomach clench painfully with fear, something was horribly wrong. Havoc and Mustang were talking in hushed voices now, the seemed to be arguing about something, maybe the trains with the way Havoc kept pointing at them. When Fuery came back he joined in on the arguing until the intercom came on overhead, the five o'clock train to West City was being delayed because it was being used by the Military.

"Of course you would make my train late." Alphonse groaned. "When will it be leaving?"

"When you're not on it, there's another train taking the civilians to West City, the military has taken control of this entire train." Roy replied patting Al on the shoulder. "And since you seem so intent on coming with us, now that you've heard something interesting,

He took a moment to send a pointed glare at Havoc and Fuery. "Then I'll have to give you a military escort for the time being, so you'll be able to get past checkpoints and the like." at Riza's look he smiled. "Therefore, Major Armstrong will be accompanying you on your trip to West City along with a handful of military troops to protect the train, just to be safe."

At the mention of the Lieutenant, Alphonse paled and was lifted into the air by a giant arm. "Alex Louis Armstrong at your service my young friend!" Armstrong exclaimed setting Al down and giving his hand a firm shake. "It's been a while since I last saw you Alphonse, how is that darling wife and child of yours!"

"They're... doing good Major!" Alphonse replied uncertainly after the bear of a man released his hand.

"Our train will be the number seven and it will be leaving in about twenty minutes." Armstrong informed the blond jovially. "So prepare for our journey to West City with vigor young Elric!"

The Major was dressed smartly in his blue military uniform, muscles bulging underneath the material and nearly bald head glimmering in the sunlight. From the look on Alphonse's face, he was not looking forward to his train ride and that suited the General just fine. He said his goodbyes to the Elric and to the Major and wished them a good trip before he strode away with Riza trailing behind.

"The Major won't be able to keep Alphonse in the dark for long, he'll figure out what we're doing and nobody can stand in the way of an Elric, especially an angry one." Riza said, giving Roy a sidelong glance that was returned with a smirk.

"That'll be no problem Lieutenant, because Alphonse isn't going to be joining us in West City." Roy replied, smug smirk still in place.

"Sir?" Hawkeye inquired, blinking in confusion as they strode into the control booth of the train station.

"Excuse me, but is the Lieutenant Colonel Rogers in his office?" Roy asked when he saw a group of men talking together.

They directed him to the station's main building and into a small office where a man sat surrounded by three what looked like engineers based on their oil and dirt covered clothes. When they walked in, the two overheard the men giving reports on maintenance runs on the trains and other such things.

"Excuse me for barging in so suddenly, Lieutenant Colonel. I'm General Roy Mustang, pleased to meet you." Roy greeted, walking through the portal to the office without hesitation.

The three engineers and the officer all looked up at the introduction; the man he guessed was Rogers widened his eyes and looked surprised. "Good morning General Sir! To what do I owe this sudden visit?" Rogers stood up quickly and saluted his superior in greeting.

"Well I am commandeering one of your trains so I thought I'd just come in and give you my thanks." Roy replied, chuckling when he heard Riza scoff behind him. "I was also hoping you could do me another favor."

Rogers looked nervous, his saluting hand dropped to his side while Mustang continued to grin slyly like a cat with the canary in its mouth. "And what would that be General?" Rogers pondered cautiously.

Behind Roy, Riza sighed loudly and the General's grin widened even more. "I need the passenger train to West City rerouted to the North." Rogers' face contorted from wariness to utter confusion in the span of two seconds.

"That would take a long time General, we'd have to transfer the civilian passengers and stock the train with supplies for more soldiers-"

"Actually I need you to reroute it without telling anyone, the passengers need to stay on. There's a special passenger about to board that train and I can't allow him to reach West City." Roy replied, cutting into the middle of Rogers' sentence. "It's of the utmost importance."

"I can't just reroute a train full of passengers!" Rogers' snapped, but flinched back when Roy placed his hands flat on the desk and leaned in, face serious and gloves on display.

"I don't think you heard me." he said slowly. "I said; _reroute_, the_ train_."

Behind him, he could hear Hawkeye sigh.


	4. Chapter 4

Alrighty! Here's the next chapter, sorry it's so late but I was having a lot of trouble coming up with a few places in this chapter and also my beta was taking a while to correct my mistakes. I'm going to attempt to keep about a once a month update schedule. If I don't then I'll probably post an apology chapter like this, super long and full of action!

* * *

><p>Chapter Four<p>

The Steps to Hell

*~3 Days Later~*

When Roy stepped out of the car he was immediately bombarded by a group of lower officers all vying for his attention. According to the officer that Roy chose to listen to, the city had been completely surrounded and shut off from anyone who tried to come within fifty miles of the town. Search teams were being chosen as they spoke and the base camp had already been established. A large tent in the center served as the temporary headquarters. Hughes followed closely behind Roy and Riza keeping an ear open and watching everything that was happening around them. When they reached the large tent, they were beckoned inside where equipment and tables were set up with papers and more machines hummed.

"General Mustang, Sir!" A group of voices exclaimed, all of the men in the room had stopped what they were doing and saluted him in turn.

"At ease, I want a full report on the current positions of every soldier on site, and I want a search party put together within the next hour." Roy ordered, smirking when they all scurried back to their stations and began working furiously. "Have any soldiers been sent out for scouting?"

"Yes, Sir. We've sent out four groups of three soldiers, each armed and told to scout with caution." A second lieutenant answered, his hair was a dark blond and he had nearly black eyes. "We were thinking about using the larger search party cover the outer ring of the forest around the town, while also sending in teams to search the houses."

"Good. Make it so, Second Lieutenant." Roy replied, stepping up to a large pinup wall with an overhead map of the town. Red circles had been marked here and there on the paper, probably the current scouting teams that were already on site.

"Should I send out orders for the main search party to arm themselves?" The man asked and Roy hesitated.

Riza and Hughes both gave him pitying looks, it was a hard decision. "To the teeth, Second Lieutenant." Roy replied begrudgingly.

This investigation would take a few days at the least.

* * *

><p>It had been a four days since the train left the Central City Train Station and, thanks to Mustang, Alphonse was still trapped on it along with an overbearing Major. To say the least, the youngest Elric was irritable and, though he was good at hiding it, sometimes he couldn't help but snap. Again, thanks to the military, he had been upgraded with Armstrong to the private cars, first class and all. This did nothing to soothe his ruffled feathers.<p>

Alphonse glared at the upholstery of the seat. Not even the first class car that Mustang had somehow gotten them could make him feel better. Plush seats, full lunch cart service, and a private booth weren't enough to lift his sour mood.

"Major?" The Strong Arm Alchemist glanced up from his book to assess the blond Elric sitting in front of him. "Is it just me, or are we going in the opposite direction of West City?"

"Not to worry my dear, Alphonse!" Armstrong replied proudly with a smile on his face, his odd little sparkles glittering around him. "Since the train that was going to West City was commandeered we had to take the one heading towards East City. It'll go through and turn around so we'll arrive in West City in a few days."

On the inside, although Alphonse was swearing and cursing Mustang for getting in the way of finding his dad, none of it showed on his face. He understood that the train would turn around when they reached East City, but if it weren't for Mustang taking over his train then he would've been in West City yesterday. If Armstrong couldn't sense the irritation almost rolling off him in waves then the Major was either very oblivious or very good at ignoring such things.

"Alphonse." The golden eyed Elric turned a light glare at his companion. The Major's face was serious. "I know you're upset with how Mustang delayed your plans, but I'm telling you now that West City is in turmoil. For you to go there could be dangerous. Edward isn't around to get you places anymore and, no matter how skilled you are, Roy can't slip you through."

"I know that. Brother is gone. I know that I can't hear as many secrets anymore, but I promised myself that I would continue his research and look for dad. I swore to Winry that I wouldn't become a State Alchemist, so I'm doing my best to get around that and learn as much as I can." The golden eyed alchemist's eyes hardened, his hands squeezing tightly on his knees. "I swore to myself when little Ed was born that I wouldn't do anything dangerous, that I wouldn't get myself into a situation I couldn't handle. But, if I find dad then he might be able to tell me about the Philosopher's Stone and what happened in the Underground City."

"He could help me find the people who dug up brother's grave." Alphonse gritted his teeth at the memory of finding Edward's grave raided.

When he'd discovered it, he, Winry, and Granny had gone to visit Edward's and Trisha's graves. As they reached the top of the hill, they saw the piles of fresh turned soil and the shovels that had been left behind by the culprits. Edward's grave had been demolished, the headstone was overturned and the coffin that had held his brother's corpse was splintered and wrenched apart. A short ways off, the lid to the coffin sat forlornly with a transmutation circle carved into the center, a circle which caused a controlled blast of fire to scorch the cherrywood of Edward's coffin.

Winry had cried for days, while Granny and Alphonse had become angry. The moment they returned home, he'd called Mustang and told him what had happened. Hours later, he'd gotten a call back telling him that the military grave in Central had been torn apart as well and that the same transmutation circle had been found there. Al had spent hours upon hours studying the circle, trying to find a signature or familiar line, _anything _that could point him in the right direction. All his research was for naught. There was nothing special about the circle, nothing familiar about its layout, nothing familiar about the formulas that were used. It was ordinary, text book almost, and simple. There were no clues to follow.

That had been enough to throw Alphonse into a fit. It wasn't until Winry had interrupted his studies that he realized how much it had affected him. He had become obsessed. He'd stopped researching for three whole days before he started again, his mind fresh and with a new perspective. While he only holed himself up half as badly as before, he still poured over books, research manuals, and his father's journals. When he ran out of reading materials, he turned to seeking out people.

He'd questioned Roy first because of his expertise in flame alchemy, but even Roy, with all of his military connections, was of no help. After that, he searched out famous fire alchemists, to no avail. Finally he scoured the underbelly of Central and Resembool for anyone who might've seen _any_thing. All of his searching was for naught, nothing had turned up. Nothing until he heard that a yellow eyed man had been spotted near West City three weeks ago. From the moment he'd heard the news, he'd been planning to go there, but he'd been hung up by Elicia's birthday. His recent visit to Central was to blame for his late arrival as well because he hadn't touched base with anyone there for months.

Everything seemed to be getting in the way of finding his dad.

"Alphonse... I know it must be frustrating, but I promise that you will get to West City and you will be able to conduct your research there. Until then, you have to wait." Armstrong assured the boy, a sharp twinge stabbing at his chest when the youngest Elric smiled at him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Alphonse, I'm going to go to the restroom. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"All right Major." Alphonse chuckled, feeling a little less heavy hearted.

* * *

><p>Over the last three hours, Mustang had talked to over twenty people at length, all wanting his opinion on anything and everything. Everyone seemed to be more dependent on him than he had been ready for. They were all panicking like they'd never seen such carnage before and most of them probably hadn't. He turned and gave Hughes a meaningful look, actually it was about half pleading, but the Lieutenant Coronal just smirked and shrugged at him. Well, he wasn't going to be any help at all. Mustang groaned as yet another slew of Lieutenants surrounded him with mundane questions. The search teams' messengers had been in and out of their makeshift camp, giving different reports on the areas that they'd covered.<p>

As was thought, there was no living person in the village and they'd already sent armed search parties into the depths of the village. From what the messengers said upon their return, every single person in Misview had been slaughtered, quickly and violently. Some were nearly decapitated, some had broken necks, and others seemed to have taken such severe blows that they'd died almost instantly. Doctors on site were currently confirming causes of death for the over two-hundred and twenty-six bodies that had been discovered in Misview, but even more bodies were being turned up as they continued to scour the mountain town. The men, women, children, and elders from the village were all dead.

Mustang had seen the carnage for himself when he led the first search party into the village. Misview was a town that consisted of one long road running through its very heart and then out into the mountains towards West City. On that single road were shops and inns, while patches of houses rested behind them. Each and every building was marred in some way. Most had their doors smashed in, others had bullet holes, and many windows were broken. Even the animals had met gruesome fates. Broken down carriages were scattered across the edge of town, supplies thrown from them, and the frames shattered, rendering them useless.

The ghost town was full of blood and carnage. Mustang couldn't bear to look at the mangled bodies.

"Roy." The Flame Alchemist turned to look at Hughes, scowling. "A young man couldn't do this all by himself. You know that. Not Hohenheim _or_ Envy. More people would have gotten away if it had been them. This is beyond their abilities."

"I know Maes... I'm still trying to figure that out myself." Mustang muttered, grimacing as another child's corpse was pulled from the house they were currently clearing out. "There are so many."

"Misview's population was three hundred and seventy-eight. There are more houses on the North side of the town. Havoc is leading a group of soldiers to search the surrounding woods right now." Hughes replied, the same grim look etched into his face. "They're due back soon."

"How long have they been out?" Roy asked as he watched the soldiers pull a man and woman from the house, both had twisted necks.

"Last report came in about forty-five minutes ago. They're covering ground faster than I thought they would." Hughes grimaced, before nodding his head in the direction of their camp. "Come on, we can be the first to meet them."

Hughes forced Mustang to follow him. He could see that his friend was turning this problem over and over in his head and that he would continue until his brain leaked out of his ears if he was left alone. When they returned to the campsite, Hughes ushered his friend into his own separate living space and filled a pair of glasses with bourbon. After handing one to the other man he sat down on the edge of his cot and scrutinized his best friend, waiting for whatever was going to come next.

Roy glared at the glass for a minute before knocking it back and sitting down heavily in a small desk chair a few steps away. The tent was bland on the inside, just like all the others on site. The only personal accent was the multiple pictures of the Hughes family sitting upon the crate that served as a nightstand.

Maes was one of many soldiers that would bring pictures of their loved ones with them everywhere they were posted, but his friend seemed to take it to an extreme. Mustang was sure that there was a picture of Elicia from each year since she had been born on the nightstand and he knew that the intelligence officer had multitudes more than just those.

For a long time Roy and Hughes sat in the tent, sipping their drinks and chatting, waiting for some kind of news to come. As the hours passed, the search team's messenger scouts were coming back with less and less information as they worked their way in an outward circuit from the center of the town. They had reached the outer ring of hills and forest that rested before the edges of the mountains surrounding the town's land, and their scout was due back soon. Mustang and Hughes had discerned that whoever had been responsible for the massacre on the town had already fled, as they should have. There had been no survivors and there was no evidence that could be gathered that wasn't contaminated or drenched in blood, and according to the investigative team there were simply no clues.

The death of each townsperson was different. They had different wounds, different deaths, and the killer used different levels of violence on each victim. Their investigations team had determined that those who had died from more violent wounds had fought back against whomever or whatever had killed them. Those who fought back had defensive wounds on their hands and more superficial wounds on their bodies than those who were simply killed. It was like whoever had slaughtered the fighters, had only killed the innocents in a blind rage leftover from the victims before those. Rumors were already flying around the soldiers that it was some kind of demon as the surviving townsfolk had said.

Mustang had sent Riza to try and quell the superstitions when a messenger came to their tent wide eyed and breathing heavily. "General Mustang, Sir!" He saluted stiffly and waited for Roy to notice him.

Hughes cut himself off from yet another story about Elicia and put on a serious face along with his friend. "At ease soldier, what's the matter?" Roy replied smoothly, setting down his long empty glass.

"Lieutenant Havoc has found a survivor, Sir! They're heading back to camp as we speak!" He exclaimed a small smile tugging at his lips, there was one person left.

"How long until they reach base camp?" Mustang breezed past the soldier with Hughes on his heels waving a hand for the soldier to follow and speak. "Is the person injured?"

"Thirty minutes to an hour before arrival, Sir. The messenger just came back. Their car overheated while they were trying to go up a steep hill, and they said that they were returning to the search camp to fix it." The messenger replied looking nervous. "And no, the survivor isn't injured according to their messages but that's all we know."

"That's too long. Ready a car and we'll head out there ourselves." Mustang ordered, dismissing the young soldier and heading towards the cars.

"Yes, Sir!" the solider flitted away.

The gears in Roy's mind were spinning with fervor. There was a survivor. They would finally be able to determine what happened. This person could tell them what their attacker had looked like. Maybe they had even seen which way they had gone. Ten minutes later, Roy, Riza, and Hughes were piled into a military vehicle and were racing towards the search camp with another car of armed soldiers behind them. A fifteen minute drive later had them at the search camp at the edge of town and Roy all but jumped out of the car when Hughes parked it. He caught site of Havoc coming out of the main tent of the camp and strode forward to meet him.

"Hey, Mustang I was wondering when you'd get here." Havoc grinned before he motioned their group to follow him into the tent. "We found her hiding in an old underground shelter built into the side of the mountain. She was sleeping like a log when we found her."

"Asleep?" Hughes questioned.

"Yeah, the only reason we found her was because a solider had seen a bear and fired at it. She woke up screaming and crying. The entrance to the safe house was hidden by rocks. If she had stayed silent we never would have found her." Havoc replied as they walked into a small curtained off area in the back of the huge tent. "She says her name is Mary."

Mustang pushed the curtain out of his way and the serious mask dissolved. "Mary" was no older than nine with big blue eyes and dark red hair in thick long curls framing her face. Her arms were littered with different colored bruises and she was pale. She looked like she had been walking in the woods for a long time. The yellow dress she wore was covered in dirt and tears. Havoc explained that she had been that injured when they'd found her and she hadn't said anything other than her name since they brought her to camp. The girl looked terrified and flinched whenever someone ventured too near. It was obvious she was scared.

Seeing everyone's hesitation, Riza sighed and pushed her way past Mustang and Hughes to kneel in front of the red headed girl. She flinched and looked straight into Riza's eyes, waiting for her to say something.

"My name's Riza. What's yours?" Riza asked with a smile, watching as the young girl's eyes narrowed and she searched the blonde woman's face.

"Mary..." She replied quietly. Her voice was hoarse, like she had a cold. "My name is Mary."

"Can you tell me why you were hiding in that cellar?" Riza put her hand on the little girl's knee gently and smiled again.

The girl's face pinched slightly and her eyes narrowed again. "No."

"Do you live in Misview?" Riza tried again and the girl looked almost disgusted.

"Yes."

"Do you know where your mommy and daddy are?" Hughes joined in, smiling gently and going into "daddy mode".

"Yes, they were at home." She replied and Hughes sighed heavily, the girl was orphaned. "But the yellow eyed man made them go away."

The three froze at the girl's words. "What yellow eyed man?" Riza asked slowly.

She was silent again. Her lips pursed like she was reprimanding herself for telling, Riza continued to try and coax the girl into speaking some more. "Come on sweetie you need to tell me about the yellow eyed man."

"Is he in trouble?" Her eyes got wide and fearful.

"We don't know. That's why we want to find him, so we can make sure he's okay." Hughes replied, the lie sliding easily off his tongue. "He did do some bad things though."

"No, he didn't!" She exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and clenching her fists tight. "He helped me. He's not bad!"

Riza soothed the girl until she sat back into her seat and looked close to tears. "He hurt some people Mary, but they might have hurt him too." Riza said quietly. "Do you know where he went?"

"He came down..." She bit her lip for a moment before looking up again. "He came down from his house and he saw me when I was crying."

"Why were you crying?" Riza asked.

The girl's eyes watered and she looked up at Mustang deploringly. "Is my mommy dead?" She asked, voice cracking. "Please tell me she's dead!"

Mustang flinched and looked to Hughes and Riza who both gave him wide eyed looks. "Yes... Your mommy and daddy are gone." He replied sadly.

Mary's tears flowed freely now and she started to wipe her leaking eyes. "The yellow eyed man found me crying in the woods after mommy hit me and I ran away. I told him that mommy hurt me and that daddy wouldn't make her stop and that the villagers didn't do anything either." She wailed. "And he told me to hide and then he went away."

"How long have you been in that cellar?" Riza asked brushing the girl's long hair out of her eyes.

"Three days." She hiccupped wiping at her eyes some more. "He never came back."

"You said he came down from his house. Can you tell us where that is?" Roy asked and the little girl looked up with wide, tear-filled eyes.

"You're not gonna kill him are you?" She screamed, sounding as if they were threatening to cut her arms and legs off.

It took over half an hour to calm her back down. In that time, the three officers were able to wrestle a possible location of their suspect from her, albeit reluctantly. The place that she pointed them to was a huge cavern a mile up the mountainside. It was a place the people of Misview told their children to stay away from. According to Mary, a group of men had moved into the cave to explore it, taking shovels and boxes of books and chalk. What few details Mary could give told much. Some of the papers that the men had taken into the cave had complicated circles drawn onto them. Mustang was sure she was talking about transmutation circles.

"So, what's the plan now?" Riza asked as she followed her two companions out of the tent and back to the jeeps. "Shall I gather a handful of troops to go ahead and sweep the area surrounding the cavern?"

"No, Lieutenant Hawkeye, you, Maes, and I are going to lead an investigation into the cave ourselves. If alchemists are involved, then I have to lead the pack and I don't trust these greenhorns to watch my back in case our suspect attacks." Mustang replied giving Hawkeye a wry grin, to which Riza replied with a similar one.

"Yes, Sir General Mustang." She laughed. "I'll go get supplies ready then."

* * *

><p>An hour later, there was a large unit of soldiers posted outside the mountain cave and a barricade had been set up at the entrance barring escape or entry. Each soldier was armed to the teeth and everyone was on high alert. Mustang was checking his gloves for rips or tears and Riza was checking her guns over again so they wouldn't jam. The cave was settled among a copse of trees and a rocky cliff. While the surrounding area was lush with plant life, the cave itself was a gruesome scene to behold. Three bodies had been found at the entrance, all of them mangled beyond recognition, but what little that had been salvaged had identified them as teenagers.<p>

The mouth of the cave gaped at them dark and foreboding with blood splashed against the rocks and there was a lack of birdsong in the air or creatures skittering through the brush. Everything was quiet and it unnerved the men to no end. With a final supplies check, Mustang signaled for the start of their decent. Inside, the cave was damp and mossy. Vines hung from the ceiling, while little drops of water fell on their heads. There was the soft sound of rushing water from the stream nearby and the sound of their footsteps echoed loudly on the smooth stone beneath them.

More than once, a solider slipped on the wet stones and made a loud crash that gave their position away, and each time, Roy contemplated setting them all on fire to save himself some time. The lanterns that they'd brought were burning brightly, thanks to Roy and his specialty, and the walls were jagged with light and inky shadows. In order to go deeper into the cave, they had to wade through a shallow pond that was made from a dip in the rocky floor. A portal of light was opened in the ceiling of the cave, illuminating the medium sized cavern and allowing the soldiers to get their bearings. With the light shining down, the water was clear and blue and you could see the sand at the bottom of the pool.

Rocks and shells littered the pool's floor while small fish flitted from place to place in schools. Roy looked over the calm pool skeptically, nothing was ever that easy for him, _nothing_. Riza seemed to agree with him, readying her gun and calling out an order to be ready to the soldiers following them. The clicks of guns cocking filled the echoing cavern for a minute before everything went silent once again. It wasn't long before the stench of rotting meat hit them on a puff of wind and, in the farther corners of the cavern, there were animal skeletons ripped apart and smashed.

"Be ready for anything men." Roy exclaimed to the soldiers as he brushed past his Lieutenant. "There's a tunnel over on the other side of this pond. We'll go in pairs all right?"

Gently, the clear water lapped at the edge of its pool, sending out a soft hush before Roy moved towards it and drew a circle into the dirt there. When he placed his hand on it, the stone and dirt surged upwards to stretch across the pool to the other side, he stood and ushered the first of his men with him.

As Riza stepped forward to join Roy, he stopped her. "I want you to bring up the rear. I'll take the lead on this." He ordered before he stepped up to the edge of his newly made bridge and ushered the men to follow.

The bridge was smooth and solid and would hold, just as Roy had intended. About halfway across someone shouted and Roy whirled around to see one of his soldiers dangling off the side of the makeshift bridge. Another pair of soldiers bolted to the rescue and pulled him back to safety, much to Roy's relief, saving him from a most certain death in the blue waters.

"Keep an eye on your feet man. You don't want to fall in there, no telling how deep." Roy heard one of the soldiers chide the other.

"Yeah, there's no telling what kind of creepy-crawlies live in there." Another chuckled.

"It's a cave pond. There's nothing in there. If something did live there, it couldn't be very big!" A third scoffed. "What in the...?"

Roy turned to see a few of the soldiers looking out onto the open water. He saw nothing. "Let's keep moving, eyes forward everyone." He said, turning on his heel and striding across the bridge once again. They were almost to the other side.

"You can't be so paranoid all the time..." The third man said as a splash resounded beneath them. Roy stopped and turned around searching the clear water below him.

There. It moved in a figure eight along the pool floor, building up speed as it twisted and turned. "I mean seriously, there's nothing in this cave except for us, our fugitive, and quite possibly some innocent little mice that are just trying to make a living in this godforsaken ca-" His voice was suddenly cut off by the sound of crashing water and a loud snap.

When Roy made a full turn he could see something enormous slam down onto the bridge and snap it in half, sending at least three men into the water and staining it with blood. The thing, barely visible, surged around a curve and slammed into another soldier stealing him from sight. Roy surged forward towards the destroyed end of the bridge, hauling up a soldier that was clinging to the edge. On further inspection, the man was missing his leg below his knee. Whatever had just attacked them had teeth.

"Riza! Get off the bridge!" Roy ordered as he threw the man over his shoulders and urged his own men forward to their side. "Go and get to safety!"

His men were a few feet ahead of him, sprinting as fast as they could and hoping they would escape with their lives. Another crash of water sent Roy and his passenger sprawling as the bridge slammed into the water, showering them with cold droplets and leaving them right in the sights of the beast that they had disturbed. It waddled onto the fallen bridge piece like a sea lion, but its flippers were adorned with razor sharp claws and the skin was a blue dusted light tan like the bottom of the pool. Roy put himself between the injured man and the beast hand raised to let flames loose upon it before he froze.

"A chimera..." He snarled, watching as the horizontally slit eyes dilated and the lips drew back in a snarl.

He snapped his fingers and watched as the beast lunged for him through a pillar of flames.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

A Monster

"_He snapped his fingers and watched as the beast lunged for him through a pillar of flames._"

Roy's eyes widened when the beast suddenly surged straight for him, unbothered by the flames. He had nowhere to go except into the water and he knew he had no chance there. The beast decided for him as one of its flippers came up and flung him into the cold water. When he surfaced, he could hear Riza shouting his name as well as the shouts of his soldiers as they tried to reach him.

"Riza, get these men out of here, _now_!" Roy shouted before a loud squelching caught his attention.

He whirled in the water and watched in sick fascination as the huge beast lifted the legless and screaming soldier into its mouth and swallowed him whole. The beast's head had a similar shape to that of a mudskipper, with fins where its ears should be and a larger fin along its back like a shark's. When its lips curled back, long rows of sharp teeth were revealed. Long ropes of flesh dangled from its forehead with acid green bulbs at the end of each. The beast turned and the ropes twitched. Bloodstained lips curled back revealing the beast's teeth as it lumbered to the edge of the stone platform.

"Roy!" Riza shouted from the bank, but she went unheard as Roy turned and tried to swim away from the oncoming beast.

With a crash and a huge wave, the beast disappeared into the water, its back fin slicing through the surface of the water straight for him. A shot rang out and the beast suddenly veered off course, shrieking. When Roy turned to look, he saw Riza with a rifle on the bank. The men with her cheered, but they were cut off when Roy was dragged beneath the surface. Water tried to force itself into his lungs and pain lanced through his arm. He thrashed against the teeth as his life seemed to flash before his eyes. The beast was swimming deeper and deeper and the water was getting colder. Roy realized that he couldn't hold on much longer. Without oxygen he wouldn't survive long. There was no doubt this time, General Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist was going to die.

Riza's heart sputtered for a moment in her adrenaline fueled panic. Roy had disappeared from sight. The chimera was gone, taking Roy and a few of the soldiers along with it. They were all gone. There was only blood left in the water, swirling into little whirlpools and fading into the blue. Riza's eyes were trained on the spot that the general had disappeared. Vaguely she heard a soldier bark an order and then someone ran away. She couldn't move, couldn't quash the hope that he would come bubbling up to the surface with that sly grin of his. She waited and she waited but he never came back up.

Her fingers were cold and her knuckles were white from gripping the gun in her shaking hands. She was wishing and hoping that she hadn't just lost her friend. The soldiers whispered around her as she kneeled, frozen to the spot with her gun clenched tightly in her hands. A while later, someone attempted to pry the weapon from her, but her grip only tightened.

"Riza, let go." The voice seemed to break her from her reverie. Hughes stood over her now, a dark look to his usually playful face.

"But Roy, he... " Riza choked, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"The others told me." Hughes replied, looking out onto the underground pond with a haunted look. "We have to move forward now Riza."

The blonde's head shot up to protest but she was cut off.

"Roy would tell us to suck it up and move forward, no matter the casualties. We're going to finish this mission for him." He eased the rifle out of her hands and they fell limply at her side. "We aren't going to give up just because he's not here to bark orders at us."

A ghost of smile crossed their faces, but it was quickly wiped away when the water rippled again. Riza ripped the gun from Hughes's grip and swung it to point at the lapping water, hands shaking and eyes wide. Hughes wrestled the gun back again. It had only been the wind that disturbed the water. Placing a hand on Riza's shoulder, he took in his surroundings, looking over the water and the bank they were standing on with a calculating expression on his face. Suddenly, something caught his attention. He stared wide eyed at the cave wall shock written across his face.

Riza followed his gaze, confused. She squinted her eyes to gaze into the shadows of the wall. Something had been carved into the stone. Upon closer inspection, there were markings everywhere, on the stone beneath her feet, across the walls, on rocks, even up on the ceiling. There were outcroppings everywhere across the high ceiling. Those outcroppings contained tunnels that lead deep into the caves and they were littered with even more carvings and marks and bones. Hughes walked up to a larger carving and tentatively ran his fingers over its surface, as if afraid to touch it.

"A transmutation circle..." Hughes breathed, running his fingers over the deeper runes. "A triadic transmutation circle inside of a hexagonal circle. This circle...Could it be... human transmutation?"

* * *

><p>The smell of fish was horrendous. It rose and settled itself in your nostrils to linger and taunt you with its stench. Vaguely, the sound of water lapping at the edge of the pool could be heard. The hard stone of the cave floor was cool beneath bare feet. Footsteps echoed throughout the tunnel that he walked down. His curiosity was driving him forward. Vibrations rattled the stone overhead and made pebbles fall, but he didn't reach up to brush them away. Golden eyes stared forward blankly. The fish had been loud today.<p>

It had piqued his interest and he left his circles to investigate. The fish was usually quiet and only hunted outside of his place. Today it was hunting inside and that was odd. It didn't do this, not at all. There was nothing in here but himself and the fish. He walked farther until he came to where the fish ate. Usually, it was full of little fish and sometimes things with hard feet. Usually, when he went to the place where the fish ate, the big fish was away, but he could hear it ripping into something as he got closer. Peeking around the corner, he noticed the big fish was eating something larger than the hard footed things.

It had blue skin that the big fish ripped aside to get at the paler flesh beneath. The fish's mouth was stained red from ripping into the strange creature. When it turned and bared its teeth at him, he stepped from his hiding place, causing the big fish to make a strange sound and back away from him. As he got closer, it went back into the water and disappeared to wherever it went. The big fish was always scared of him, ever since he first found it a long long time ago. Movement in the corner of his eye had his head turning, one of the big blue and tan skinned things had moved.

The thing moved again and made a strange sound. He moved forward and stood over the thing. It was still moving, so he poked it carefully on its black head. He looked closer and saw the chest rise and fall. He looked again and realized it was a person with a pale face. There were two other people lying on either side of him. The fish had eaten from them already, but this one was only injured. Reaching forward, he brushed a hand over the torn flesh of the person's arm, lurching back when the person gasped and grabbed his wrist in a limp grip.

It started making a loud choking noise while rolling onto its side. He backed away again as it started to move ever more. The fish must have brought it here without killing it, like it did sometimes. He remembered when a hard footed thing had run rampant in his place for a long time before it died. Sneaking forward again, he touched the person's shoulder and rolled him back over to look at him better. A pale face met his. One eye was dark and the other was all scarred up and grayish, marring its pretty face. Pushing the black hair aside, he looked closer. Something in his head was itching. Something was parting the sporadic thoughts in his mind and pushing to the forefront.

* * *

><p>Pain registered in Roy's mind first, lots of pain, even more pain than when he'd lost his eye. His right arm was on fire, and the smell of fish was overwhelming. It was enough to make him want to gag. Another problem was that he was too tired to do anything much more than breathe, wait, scratch that, even breathing was proving to be difficult. He chanced opening his eyes and quickly slammed them shut again, just barely registering that the chimera he believed had eaten him was just a few feet away. Even more disturbing, the chimera had its head in the stomach of one of the soldiers that had been killed. Holding his breath, he stayed as still as he could, barely breathing, and pushing down the pain he felt in his arm.<p>

Suddenly, the chimera let out a squawk and snarled before a wave of water washed over him, soaking his injured arm and splashing onto his face. The water washed into his mouth unexpectedly and it made him cough violently. He rolled onto his side at the same time something touched his injured arm. He hissed in pain and moved away from whatever had touched him. The coughing fit seemed to have drained him of his strength. Whatever it was that touched him rolled him onto his back again and touched his face, brushing away his wet bangs. Squinting up into the overhead light, Roy could barely make out the appearance of a face covered in blood and dirt, framed by a full head of hair.

The hair hung down in thick ropes, like it hadn't been washed for a long time, and the combination of stenches that came from the being above him were almost enough to make him cough again. All he could see were the golden eyes staring down at him, dull but with a curious glint to them as the person tilted their head to the side while skimming their fingers over his jaw. The fingers went down his throat before they reached back up to press at the scars around his eye. He must have lost his eye patch when the chimera had attacked him, he never took it off unless he was sleeping or showering.

A quick inventory of his body told him that he had no energy to move, a mangled arm, and that he was at the complete mercy of this wild person that had come across him.

"_Perfect._" he groaned quietly making the other being jump and dodge backwards. "If you're going to kill me do it now and get it over with."

He could see the color of the man's hair now. Though darkened by dirt and blood, it was shining gold now that the person was standing under a hole in the ceiling that illuminated the cave. Even though he couldn't make out the features of the person, this person was obviously the golden haired, yellow eyed demon that the villagers had spoken of. There was no denying that. With a final snort, he closed his eyes and rested against the stone again. He couldn't fight back against this person. It would be better if they just killed him quickly and didn't leave him to be eaten alive by the hungry chimera that had brought him there.

He snapped his eyes back open when he felt a tugging on the collar of his jacket, lifting him out of the water and onto the cool stone.

"What are you-?" he started, before the golden eyes were set upon him again.

"The fish will come back," was all he said before he continued to drag Roy into a dark tunnel away from the corpses of the dead soldiers and away from the beast that wanted to eat him.

Roy grumbled a bit at being dragged, but he shut his mouth and thanked whatever higher being was listening that at least he wasn't going to be eaten by a giant fish.

* * *

><p>Irritation, blatant, utter irritation rolled off the young Elric in waves, startling the Major that sat across from him on the plush train seats. Armstrong had never seen Alphonse so blatantly angry. They had been on a train for five days now going all across Amestris. First, they had gotten on the train heading to East City because the West City train had been taken over by the military. Then, when they'd gotten to East City, the train that was supposed to turn around and head towards West City ended up in Rush Valley. And finally, after getting back on a train to Central to catch a West City train, they ended up en route to North City completely skirting Central without his knowledge.<p>

To say Al was upset was an understatement. He was about one more delay away from dishing out a very Edward-esque fit, with a good amount of collateral damage and some choice words. Armstrong was nervous and very careful whenever he tried to talk to Alphonse. Over the last few days, the Elric had gone from confused, to irritated, to furious. He was dealing with a very dangerous situation. Many knew Alphonse as the calm and level headed brother, but his anger was a force to be reckoned with. Armstrong wouldn't try the man too much and would keep a good distance, but some of the angry glances that he got from his companion were terrifying.

He'd made a few calls back to Central about what to do, but had been unable to reach anyone other than Fuery or Breda. Mustang was still in Misview and was busy every time he called and Hughes and Riza had gone with him. Anyone who was frequently with the Elrics and had the knowledge of how to calm one down was unreachable. To say the least, the Major was in a pickle, a very dangerous pickle that might just blow up in his face if he wasn't careful. He'd seen the younger Elric mad a handful of times and the younger Elric had a temper on par with his older brother's.

"You know, Alphonse... " Armstrong began, earning a dirty look from Al. "You remind me a lot of your brother right now."

Alphonse's expression softened at the mention of Edward, as it always did. It was a sad thing to remember. "Brother would have already destroyed the train and _walked_ to Misview by now." He replied a bit grumpily.

"That's true. I remember the time when you fought Scar and he tried to talk us into letting him carry you both back to Resembool." Armstrong chuckled, remembering the fuss Edward had put up when it was decided that the Major would accompany them back to their hometown.

"Winry told me about that. She said it was the first time that she had used her lighter automail on Brother." Alphonse smiled lightly. "I miss him... "

"As we all do Alphonse." Armstrong replied, glad that, even though he had touched on a sad subject, Al was no longer mad. "Your brother was an amazing alchemist and an even more amazing young man."

"Yeah, I bet if he could see me now he'd be yelling at me for running all over the country for him." He paused for a moment, gathering his words. "He'd probably tell me not to worry about it; that it was just a grave."

Silence fell between them for a long time, a comfortable silence that Armstrong was glad for. Alphonse wasn't angry anymore. He looked melancholic now.

"But if we aren't heading to Misview after this next transfer, then I'm going to destroy the train and walk there." Alphonse blurted out with a sweltering look aimed at the Major across from him. Armstrong wasn't out of the woods yet.

A few hours later they found themselves in North City and this time Alphonse went to order the tickets to make sure they were getting on the right train. He even asked the other passengers which city they were going to so he could be sure. Armstrong wasn't going to turn him around again and Al was going to be sure to give the General an earful when he got a hold of him. Their train wouldn't leave for a couple of hours, which meant that it would give the Major time to come up with a plan to delay them further.

After the second turn, around Alphonse had figured out what was going on. Mustang must have told Armstrong to keep him away from Misview, to keep him away from whatever was waiting there. They always forgot that Alphonse could be just as stubborn and determined as Edward at times. These characteristics weren't just Edward's traits; they were traits that all Elrics possessed. It was something that their father had passed down to them. Alphonse sighed and watched the people walk by as he sat on a bench to wait for the train. He missed Winry and little Ed. He hadn't seen them in a few weeks, not since he had left for Drachma. Winry was probably very busy between building automail and taking care of the baby. Without granny there it was hard, but Rose said she was going to visit for a couple of days to keep her company.

What Armstrong said earlier came back to him. It rubbed at the scars that were already healed over. He had been really thinking about his brother for the first time in a long time. Trying to find the people who had desecrated Edward's grave had left him little time to actually reflect upon his older brother. The day of Edward's funeral had been a dark day across the country. Many had known his brother as the Alchemist of the People and many had wished to say goodbye.

It had been cold that day, one of the first days of the winter to come. Everyone was bundled tightly in dark clothes. The crowd was a sea of blacks, browns and grays waiting outside of the Rockbelle house. Hundreds of people from all over Amestris had flocked to Resembool, to pay their respects to the alchemist. The Rockbelle house that usually exuded warmth with its sunny yellow paint was dull and cold. The front room had been cleared of furniture for the visitation. In the center of the room sat a single cherry wood casket. It was fashioned by his fellow State Alchemists with intricate alchemic designs as a tribute to their fallen comrade.

Inside laid the body of Edward Elric, hair loose and fanned across his shoulders. His once tan skin was pale and cold. He was dressed in his trademark black shirt, pants, and boots as well as his red coat that was carefully draped over his shoulders. His ungloved hands were folded over his stomach. Pale lids hid golden eyes and to all he looked asleep, like he had just settled down after a long journey, but he would never wake. All the visitors were in tears, some hysterics, some begged him to wake up, and some swore at him for leaving. Paninya came with her father and he thanked the young man for helping his daughter.

The people of Youswell and Liore came and thanked him once again for saving their town. Rose stood and offered comfort to Winry, Pinako, and Alphonse throughout the onslaught of people that cried, offered kind words, and promised to be a call away. Winry had cried for days. Izumi and Sig arrived on the second day of visitation and stayed for nearly a week after. Wrath was with them, in need of not only automail, but also proof that the great Edward Elric, the boy that he had hated for so long, was truly dead. Though he had held such animosity toward Edward, Wrath owed the man his life and his sanity.

Hughes and his family came late the second day after Izumi and Sig. They were all dressed in their finest clothes with a five year old Elicia clinging tightly to her daddy who wore a stony expression. Gracia, her mother, was clinging tightly to her husband's arm, tears constantly being wiped away. After Hughes and Gracia were finished with their goodbyes they had trouble pulling Elicia away.

"Say bye, bye to Edward sweetie." Hughes coaxed his daughter gently.

"No! I don't wanna!" she cried, big tears rolling down her face. "Edward can't go away. He promised to play with me on our birthday and color with me!"

"Come on Elicia, you can still give him your present, okay?" Hughes tried again planting a kiss on the girl's forehead. "I'm sure he'll love it no matter what."

The girl buried her head deeper into her father's coat before scrambling down and up onto the footstool that Winry had placed at the edge of the casket for her. She stared at Edward's body for a long while, more tears slipping down her round little face until she laid a piece of paper down over his folded hands. It was a crude drawing of her daddy, two people in blue, a suit of armor, and her mother, with Edward in the middle of the picture and Elicia, herself, beside him both of them wearing party hats. Around the suit of armor was a mass of cats and one of the blue figures had a burning hand while the other stood beside a little black dog. Elicia dove away from the casket like she'd been burned and scrambled back up into her father's arms where she clung to him once again.

"Why'd Ed have to go Daddy?" she bawled. "Why'd he have to go to sleep?"

"I don't know sweetie, I really don't." Hughes choked out, wrapping his arms around both his daughter and his wife.

"Then bring him back, Daddy!" She shrieked. "Wake him up so he can eat birthday cake with me and color and give me piggyback rides! He can't go! He can't!"

It took a long time to calm Elicia's cries but eventually she tired herself out. Alphonse was silent until they left. He couldn't handle what was going on around him, couldn't accept the fact that his brother was dead. Roy and Riza came shortly after the Hughes family. Roy still had casts on both his arm and leg and his eye was also heavily bandaged. Riza pushed him in a wheel chair to the casket, helping her superior stand on his good leg so he could look down into the face of his fellow alchemist. His left eye was red and puffy and a stony expression was locked in place like he might lose his composure at any moment.

He nodded to Alphonse and placed a picture frame in the casket above Elicia's drawing so that it rested on Edward's chest. It was a picture that the team at Central headquarters had taken with the Elrics and Rockbelles on New Years the year before. Everyone was smiling brightly and waving at the camera, Edward was off to the side with Al and Roy where they had previously been talking about alchemy. The look on Roy's face was one Alphonse had never seen before. He looked fragile. Never had Roy Mustang in his life seemed, looked, or felt fragile except in that one moment while looking upon the face of his dead subordinate.

Mustang muttered a quick goodbye to Edward before Riza wheeled him out of the house. Havoc, Breda, Fuery, Falman, and Armstrong came together on the last day bawling and promising to work twice as hard now that Edward was gone. They promised to look after the General and Maes for him, even cracked a few bitter jokes that left them in more tears. There was crying and kind words from everyone but Alphonse barely listened. It still felt like just yesterday their mother had fallen ill, just yesterday that he had buried her, and now he was burying his brother who had died without his knowledge.

The final day of visitation went quickly. More people from the newly rebuilt Liore came and told Al of his and his brother's escapades during the Cornello incident. Many revered Edward as the Alchemist of the People, the hero of Liore, the homunculus slayer, the youngest state alchemist to date, a friend, a brother, and a son to be proud of, even though Hoenheim never showed up. It was then that Alphonse took his brother's words to heart; their father did not care and would never care, even if they died. There was one thing he could thank his father for and it was the fact that his uncaring parenting style had made Edward and Alphonse closer than if Hohenheim had stayed.

After the visitation, they buried Edward. His resting place was beside their mother on the hill; beneath the tree their mother loved so much. It was only there that Alphonse cried. Edward had left him alone. His brother was now with their mother while he was trapped here, given another chance at life. At first he resented Edward for bringing him back, but then Alphonse vowed to live his life for both of them, both his brother and mother. Then came the night that everything came crashing down. Winry and Alphonse had been quietly making breakfast about a week after the funeral when they received a chilling message. A neighbor had pounded on their door in a panic. He told them that some strange men had come into the village earlier that morning and that there had been an explosion on the hill.

Alphonse rushed out into the early morning to his family's graves and was horrified by what he found. Someone had dug up Edward's grave and then wrenched the casket from where it laid. The lid was cast aside and scorched almost beyond recognition. There was a blazing clue on the surface of the gleaming wood, a transmutation circle carved deep into the lid still glowing with heat. The contents of the casket were gone. The body and funeral gifts had all disappeared from their final resting place. Winry, who had followed closely after him, broke down when she saw the upturned coffin. The headstone was overturned and chunks had been broken off the edges.

Parts of the coffin still burned and Alphonse felt a coil of fury burn in his stomach. The hatred only grew when he received a call from Central later that day saying that the grave marker in Central for Edward had also been decimated with the same transmutation circle the evening before. At the Central Memorial Graveyard the damage was even more extensive and sloppier than in Resembool. In Central, the memorial grave was nothing but a crater of rubble and scorch marks and the Central headquarters investigation team was already scouring the area. They promised Alphonse that they would find whoever had done this, but the Elric refused to listen and began a journey of his own.

He decided that he would go across Amestris and retrace his and Edward's paths. He would make an attempt to remember the life he had forgotten. After saying goodbye to Winry and Pinako, he disappeared for almost two years, only coming back whenever he was needed. Every once in a while, he would check in with Mustang and the Rockbelles, but otherwise he wandered and met the people that he and his brother had helped.

"Young Alphonse!" Al was wrenched from sleep by the loud voice beside him. "Alphonse, my friend our train is about to leave!"

Al rubbed a hand over his face and picked himself up from the bench on which he had fallen asleep, looking around frantically. Armstrong stood in front of him smiling and holding their luggage, Al took a moment to make sure that they were getting on the right train before they boarded. He was one step closer to his lead, the train they were on would take them straight to West City and then Misview, only three more days before he could go home to his wife and son. The seats on this train were more comfortable than the last ones had been and Al was quick to fall asleep against the glass with his mind full of sad memories.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

What is "Human"?

_"The seats on this train were more comfortable than the last ones had been _

_and Al was quick to fall asleep against the glass_

_with his mind full of sad memories. "_

"Human transmutation..." Hughes gasped stepping away from the wall where the intricate circle sat innocently. "What's it doing here?"

He looked across the other walls, seeing more circles of varying complication, but the one before him stood out more than any of the others. This transmutation circle had only come into his sight twice in his life. It first appeared on the bloody floor of the Elric home's basement thirteen years ago and the second time was when Roy had confided in him about an unfortunate prodigy he'd discovered. Just seeing the circle made him shiver. The mere sight of the taboo alchemy was enough to make him feel queasy. Roy had taught him a bit about alchemy, enough to recognize some alchemic circles, but he never could get a good enough grasp to use it.

Riza walked up beside him and gazed at the circle that sat on the wall like it was something perfectly innocent and could harm no one. She had seen the reports that Roy had in his personal study while delivering papers to the General and the circle was something that she had quickly memorized. Roy had sworn her to secrecy about the Elric's attempt to bring their mother back, no one in the military outside of Roy, Hughes, and herself knew. The soldiers were getting restless, murmuring amongst themselves and looking over at their commanding officers questioningly. As Hughes studied the walls, Riza called for a soldier to bring her climbing equipment.

At Hughes' questioning look, she stopped tying a rope to the climbing hook and looked up to the stone balconies above. "If we can't get across the pond..." she whirled the roped hook in an arch and launched it up onto one of the lower balconies, yanking hard on the rope when it caught. "Then we'll have to go over it."

Hughes smiled and nodded, giving orders to the soldiers for them to prepare to climb through the upper caverns and tunnels. Some were going to stay behind and watch the pond incase the chimera returned and others would be following Hughes and Riza to look for their suspect. It took a short while for the ladder to be set up, but it was sturdy and a good distance away from the spring so that the chimera couldn't suddenly tear it down. Riza went first after the ladder was secured, climbing carefully with a rifle strapped to her back and the soldiers followed after her, all heavily armed. When Hughes finally joined them, they looked at the four tunnels standing before them.

They decided that they would leave two men at the balcony and Riza and Hughes would lead the remaining eight soldiers through the far left tunnel. Riza lead with her rifle held tightly in her hands, a soldier with a lantern followed right behind her, and she carefully pointed her gun into the shifting shadows. A few twists and turns later and they found themselves at a dead end cavern. It was large and pitch black and the sound of rushing water rang loud in their ears. All the soldiers lit their lanterns and fanned out in an arch, guns drawn and muscles tense, until the sound of snarling made them flinch back. In the darkness of the room they had been unable to see its contents, but with the extra light, the contents became visible. Cages upon cages of different animals greeted them, some were local wildlife and some were chimera.

After shuffling around in the dark for a while longer, someone stumbled across a light switch, a heavy metal lever that was bumped into and ultimately blinded everyone. In the new light they were able to get a better look at their surroundings. The cages spanned farther than they had thought and blood and animal remains were scattered about the cave. Transmutation circles littered the floor, some faded and covered in dried blood while others looked more recent, but they were still quite old. There were desks shoved up against the far wall, overflowing with papers and film canisters, while a line of projectors stood in the corner. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, even the cages and the beasts within looked thin and starving.

It was evident that some had started eating their companions. The cages with more than one animal inside had bones picked clean of flesh and the others looked less emaciated. The soldiers carefully surveyed the room and the cages. On the desks, logs had been made of the creatures and the transmutations that they had been used for. There were other papers that brought a worried crease to Hughes' brow, ones with the words 'human transmutation' scrawled across them. He found more that said similar things but nothing overtly dangerous. Most of them seemed to be pages from a journal talking about the possibility of a perfect human transmutation. Some pages eluded to attempts made by others, but it seemed that the writer never tried to attempt the dangerous alchemy.

"Alright, " Hughes said, his voice echoing and catching the soldiers' attention. "Remember that this is a search and rescue, but it's also an official investigation. I'm calling in more soldiers to scour these caves. Some of you will follow me and Lieutenant Hawkeye deeper into this place, some of you will stay here. I want every piece of paper and film reel collected and tagged, leave nothing untouched and give some food to these chimera.

"Lieutenant." he said, looking towards the blonde woman whose eyes had become distant as she surveyed the destroyed water tanks in the corner of the cavern. "Lieutenant Hawkeye!"

She jumped and made a quick salute to her superior, eyes snapping back to Hughes like she'd forgotten where she was. "Yes, Sir Brigadier General." she replied stiffly.

"You're coming with me, come on." Hughes said more gently, as he strode out of the cavern calling for a handful of soldiers to follow him.

Riza kept in stride beside him, her eyes straying to the side every so often and getting that far off look to them. Hughes sighed, he would have to keep an eye on her. Watching Roy being dragged beneath the water by a huge chimera was something that he knew would haunt Riza. Even though logically, Hughes knew there had been no way for Roy to escape, he couldn't help but hope his friend had gotten away at the last moment. After all, Roy Mustang was notorious for his close calls and he'd dealt with much worse than a chimera.

Hughes quickly made orders for more soldiers to enter the caves and help with the search for the General. The tunnels were dark and slippery. It was dangerous treading if a soldier didn't have enough light to see. A few soldiers had already gotten injured or had close calls. Faster than either Hughes or Riza could imagine, they found themselves deep into the system of tunnels and caverns that were like a dungeon maze. Within the tunnels, they found more caves like the chimera filled one with abandoned experiments, hoards of chemicals, and alchemic materials. There were also many documents speaking of the experiments that they found, alchemic recipes, diaries, journals, and statistics. Someone even found a map of each and every cave in the system, which excited Hughes to no end.

Hughes ordered copies to be made as quickly as possible and the already existing copies to be spread out among the soldiers and group leaders so they could maneuver easily. Leading one team, Hughes headed toward where he believed was their main experiment room, labelled "EXR 1" on the map, with Riza at his side and a handful of soldiers behind him. Their path twisted left and right and high up and underground and past other caverns that were similar to the chimera room they'd found. Electric lights had been set up throughout the caves and were a huge help, but something still seemed to be unsettled in Hughes's stomach. As they got closer to EXR 1, that unsettled feeling only grew. To get there they had to pass by a line of other rooms with different numbers on them, EXR 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, and 3. Each room was about as big as a prison cell, some were bigger with large cages lining the walls. Some of the cages were empty, but some had chimera corpses rotting within.

This part of the caves looked more man-made. The walls were smooth and alchemically made with iron doors barring access to the other experiment rooms. As they continued forward, the iron doors looked to be in worse and worse shape, some had huge claw marks in them and others were washed with blood. There were no corpses to be seen though which only added to the nervousness of the soldiers. Lots of blood and a lack of bodies was never a good sign. They searched each and every one of the experiment rooms one by one and it was then that they discovered where the bodies had gone. Each corpse had been lined up side by side and were in varying states of decay, but all were nearly drained of blood. There were less than a dozen bodies, about nine, and all had some sort of transmutation circle tattooed on their skin.

Slowly, they made their way forward, soldiers fanning out to cover each of the destroyed test rooms. When they reached the first room, the unsettled feeling came back again. Instead of the heavily armored steel door there was only a huge gaping tunnel. As Hughes ran his hand along the wall he could tell that it'd been transmuted, the stone was too smooth and couldn't have been made naturally. He signaled the troops to start forward through the long tunnel. The deeper they tread the darker the tunnel got, the electric lights had been twisted by alchemy into the smooth walls. Some of the lights were so twisted that they no longer worked and what looked like bloody drag marks trailed through the tunnel and into the darkness.

About halfway down the lights were completely destroyed leaving them in darkness, but another light glowed innocently at the end of the tunnel. Hughes warily followed alongside the bloody drag marks, noting that there were footprints in the dust. Suddenly, a gush of air unsettled the cobwebs and dust that were lining the tunnel breezing over Hughes, Riza and the soldiers eerily. It was probably nothing, but Hughes stomach churned nervously all the same. There was no telling what kind of things were in this place, they'd already found bodies and giant chimera there could be anything down that tunnel. When they reached the end their eyes squinted in the harsh light and fresh air wafted over them.

The cave was large, and the ceiling was opened to the sky letting daylight filter in through the large tress that almost blocked the opening. Riza strode quickly in front of Hughes and raised her gun, a single figure crouched in the corner of the room. They were on their hands and knees scribbling frantically at the stone floor. In the gloom of the corner they could not make out much more than that he was human, with long dirty hair and wore dark clothes. Guns cocked and pointed forward when a fit of coughing rang out through the cavern, the painful echo worrying.

In the corner there was another opening, light leaked from it and the corner of a dresser peeked out from around the corner. "Alright men, secure the area and keep an eye on that man, Riza you're with me." Hughes quickly ordered, pleased when the soldiers spread out to train their guns on the scribbling figure and that Riza didn't not pause before answering.

The two strode quickly over to the lighted area, Hughes holding onto his throwing knives and peeking around the corner carefully. He searched the floor for any signs of booby traps, there was a dresser with drawers askew, a desk with papers everywhere. In the corner there was a couch that looked well worn and a large wooden chest with a padlock. Filing cabinets, a nightstand and a small cot but there was something stirring on that cot that made Hughes's chest swell.

"Roy!" he exclaimed rushing to the back of the room where his friend lay, kneeling beside him when the raven opened his eyes.

"Hey, never thought you'd get here." he croaked, lifting a hand to rub at his eyes.

Riza ran up and kneeled beside the Brigadier General, just as glad to see her superior. "Sir! Are you alright?" she quickly asked, worry streaking across her face.

"M'alright. A little torn up, but hey, I just escaped a man eating chimera." Roy chuckled tenderly lifting his injured arm for the two to see. "How'd you find me?"

"We searched the caves after we were attacked, found a network of tunnels and there was a map in one of the research areas." Riza replied pulling out a small first aid kit from her coat pocket and helping the General sit up.

"Research areas?" Roy cut in, eyebrow quirking upwards.

"Yeah, this place is a research facility of some sort." Hughes replied, standing and watching Riza carefully disinfect the gashes up and down Roy's arm. "We've found nine bodies, all alchemists if the transmutation tattoos are anything to go by. They were seriously maimed and lined up in one of the sealed rooms, there are other areas too. I think there was even a place for a greenhouse."

"So this whole place is lived in." Roy hissed when Riza dabbed antiseptic on a deeper cut. "Are there any other survivors?"

"Just the suspect, and the soldiers are trained on him. He's just picking at the floor." Riza said, wrapping gauze around Roy's hand and up his arm. "I don't _think_ anything's broken, but I'm not a doctor and you're pretty banged up. We'll have to get you some antibiotics when we get back to camp, there's no telling what kind of bacteria that chimera was carrying around."

After a bit of prompting from Hughes, Roy relayed what had happened since he'd been attacked. "It was scared off when our friend over there walked in and he dragged me here. I passed out as soon as he put me on the bed." he grumbled, cradling his injured arm close to himself so Riza could rig a makeshift sling over his shoulder.

"He saved you?" Hughes asked, eyes wide.

"I asked him why and all he said was that the big fish would come back." Roy replied, stretching his good arm. "We should search the area, and take our suspect into custody."

"Roy's right, now that he's safe we can focus on the task at hand, get some men in here to search and bag everything." Hughes said, relief written across his face as he looped one of Roy's arms over his shoulder and helped the flame alchemist make his way out of the little alcove and into the main cavern.

Hughes carefully set his friend up against the wall, careful to mind his arm and called for a medical team to meet them there. Riza stood beside her superior as if afraid he was going to disappear again while Hughes began to order the soldiers once again. Some stepped away from the man they'd surrounded and began going through the desk and filing cabinets in the alcove leaving nothing unturned. Finally, after he was sure that the soldiers were taken care of Hughes turned to their suspect walking carefully behind the group of soldiers that were still surrounding the wild looking person. Their suspect continued to scribble on the floor, with a closer look it seemed like they were using charcoal, their hands near black from the dust.

"Identify yourself." Hughes ordered, irked when the figure did not even acknowledge his presence. "You there, I order you to identify yourself."

Again he was ignored, so he strode past the soldiers, knife drawn and with extreme caution he knelt on the ground. The figure paused for a moment, turning to glance sidelong at Hughes and then down at the knife in his hand before he went back to his drawings. Hughes sighed before standing and looking down at the young man still crouched and drawing on the floor. Turning, he gave a pleading look to Roy who only shrugged in return, Maes sighed and turned back to the suspect to try again.

"Hughes!" Roy exclaimed, distracting the Brigadier General for a moment before movement caught his eye and he was staring into golden eyes no more than a few inches away from his face.

Reflex took over and Hughes lashed out with his knife only to have his arm locked in a stoney grip. His knife was poised an inch away from blood streaked skin, dull golden eyes stared blankly at the Brigadier General before slowly turning to the blade. The hand was dropped and the older quickly backed away, back tense and knives ready while the younger just stared. He cocked his head to the side and turned away, padding quietly into the alcove and over to the desk. Soldiers inside the alcove were surprised and raised their weapons ready to fire before Mustang gave them a stern order to stand down.

The young man kneeled in front of the desk and rifled around in a bottom drawer, lifting it out of place and reaching into the recess left behind. He pulled out two items, a picture frame and a piece of dirty paper before he put the drawer back and stood again. Padding quietly over to where he stood before, he set the items on the ground and went back to his drawings. Hughes stood, confused as the rest of them before he leaned down and picked up what had been left, he assumed, for him. A picture frame covered in filth and the piece of paper had stains all over it, he looked harder at the picture frame and tried to rub some dirt off of it.

The glass was broken, like someone had dropped it and the edge bit into his palm but the dirt came away with bit of scrubbing. What came through the dirt made him drop the frame altogether, the already shattered glass exploded out from the frame and scattered across the floor. With a jerk, the young man was standing again, reaching for the picture frame and holding it close to his chest. Hughes muttered something inaudible, making Mustang strain to hear it.

"Hughes, what is it?" Roy called from his place on the wall worried when his friend said nothing, but walked towards him, paper in hand and mouth pressed into a grim line. "Maes...?"

He held out the paper for Roy who took it carefully, the paper looked as if it would fall apart any moment. Some dirt obscured the image on the surface but bright little colors peeked through on the dingy yellow paper. Realization hit him like a ton of bricks, the crude little children's drawings that he himself had so many of. Without a word, Roy forced himself to stand and hobble over to the still standing figure who continued to clutch the broken picture frame to his chest.

"May I see that picture?" Roy asked carefully reaching for the picture hoping he wouldn't startle the young man. "Please?"

The head lifted and golden eyes stared through dirty bangs, before the young man handed Roy the frame. Roy took it carefully and picked off the last bits of glass that were stuck in the frame, revealing the picture from beneath the dirt. With a tense jaw Roy reached up and pushed back the dirty hair from the young man's face. Golden eyes stared blankly, once tanned skin was pale and a smooth jaw greeted Roy, beneath the dirt and grime he knew he would find golden locks.

Roy felt something in himself break, pity welled up as well as disgust and both seemed to mingle to cut deeper than either could do apart. "Edward?" he finally said, hoping he was wrong, hoping that maybe it was someone else, someone who only looked like Fullmetal.

His answer was what Roy had dreaded the most.

"Yes?" Edward replied.

* * *

><p><em>Mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! And with the chapter you've all been waiting foooooor! I know I died there for a really long time, but guess what?! I have discovered the trail that this story is taking and I'm planning on working with it again! So exciting! From now on things might be greatly unbeta'ed as it is with my RotG fanfiction. I've discovered I don't get much done with my beta. . But I still love her to death so I'll be using her, and a few others to make sure that this story continues! :O I'm not giving up on you my lovelies, I just needed some time to think about where this was going! SO WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS PEOPLE!<em>


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

**You're Back?**

_" 'Yes?' Edward replied. "_

Roy stared hard at the dirty young man in front of him before the medical team arrived, and Edward immediately backed away into the corner again. They looked over Roy and deemed his arm to be fractured and 'nearly cut to ribbons'. Riza was really too nice sometimes, he thought before Roy asked one of the medics to go and look at Edward. He was careful about not saying his name, but with a bit of coaxing he was able to convince one. At first, the wild young man looked ready to protect himself, shoulders tense and eyes steady before Roy convinced him to hold still.

The medic could find nothing wrong with him, no injuries, or scars except for the obvious lack of focus. "It's like he's not all there, I've seen this in patients with shock but he has no other symptoms that I can see. We should get him back to base and get him cleaned up, there's no telling what kind of filth he's been in for how long." the medic said, her white army uniform a stark contrast to Edward's filth and dark clothing.

"He's covered in a lot of blood, do you think he could have been there when whatever attacked the people in Misview was there?" the medic questioned. "He could have escaped and fled into the caverns."

"Possibly." Roy replied hesitantly, not really sure what to think at that point, finding Edward there in the first place was a big enough shock.

"General Mustang?" Roy turned and saw Riza making a beeline for him, face serious as she asked the medic to go check on a soldier who'd 'hurt his foot'.

When she was gone Riza kneeled down beside Roy and looked long and hard at Edward, who was still frantically filling the room with the click of charcoal on stone. "How long do you think he's been down here?" Riza whispered.

"Judging on his appearance, months, maybe years." Mustang replied. "It explains why he saved me though."

They looked at the glaze-eyed fugitive, watching as he continued to scribble and stare into nothing, like Roy and Riza didn't even exist. For a moment Roy was lost in the past, back to the funeral, back to when he'd placed the picture frame in the blonde's casket and the finality of it all had crashed down on him. Now Edward kneeled before him, very much alive but still so far away from him that it hurt to look upon the crouched figure. Panic surged through him for a moment, tightening his chest and tensing the muscles in his back. What would they do if Alphonse discovered the truth?

With purpose Roy brought himself up tall, barking out orders as he used Riza's shoulder as a crutch. While the soldiers were scampering to obey him he returned to the side of Edward, kneeling down in front of him and trying to catch his attention.

"Edward." Roy urged, watching as the near blank eyes continued to dart across the lines and symbols. "Edward?"

He was effectively ignored by the young man, Roy looked down and tried to follow the complicated system of lines and angles that made up the circle he was drawing without much luck. It was too complicated even for him to decipher part of it, throwing caution to the wind he reached out with his uninjured arm and laid his hand over the blond's. Yellow eyes looked confused before they darted up to look at Roy whose own face was nervous and waiting to see what he would do. Riza stood behind him, he could hear her sharp intake of breath when he reached out and heard the click of her handgun. Ed's right arm was wrapped tightly in black fabric, crisscrossed and bound like a mummy all the way up to just below his pectoral.

"Edward, do you understand me?" Roy asked slowly, carefully pronouncing everything so that he could be understood.

A blink and a tilt of the head. "Yes." Roy sighed thankfully, letting his shoulders unclench.

"Alright, do you know where you are?" the blond head twisted the other way, tilting upwards and looking at what little sky they could see through the holes in the cave ceiling. "Edward?"

"Misview Experimental Facility. Eighty-seven miles from West City Headquarters, one hundred and eighty-two miles to Central City, two hundred and eighty-five to Risembool." Ed's eyes move back and forth over the ceiling as if he were reading the answers off of them. "You're here?"

The question stopped Roy for a minute, it was full of relief but at the same time confusion. "Yes, Edward we're here." he tried, unsure what was going through the young alchemist's head. "Is that bad?"

"No." he pulled away from the General, stood and wandered off to the other side of the room.

With a sigh Roy and Riza followed the elder Elric, they watched as he stood at the far wall staring at all the transmutation circles and chicken scratch notes that littered the stone in shades of grey and black. "Fullmetal." Mustang snapped, watching as Ed's eyes grew wide and his head pivoted to the General. "I need you to focus, can you do that?"

"I... think so..." he replied suddenly finding his fingers extremely interesting before he broke away and laid an almost steady gaze on Roy.

"How did you get here?" Roy began carefully, watching as the focused expression changed to concentration.

"A light... " face tilted to the sky again he recalled his arrival in that place, of the bright light and the blinding pain that had dragged him out of the darkness that had trapped him for so long.

Something snapped inside him, screaming its head off as a long, sharp ringing pierced his ears. A mass of information flew through his mind's eye like a whirlwind, warning flags stood at attention as he attempted to understand _why_. When his mind thought back to the first day it rebelled against him, it fought him every step of the way, the harder he pushed the louder the screams became. His eyes dropped from the openings in the ceiling to the dirty stone floor, as if the words were in the air before him his eyes skimmed over everything. Roy called to him but he couldn't hear over the noise, it only grew louder in his head digging its claws deeper.

As suddenly as it begun, it stopped. Swallowed were his thoughts until they were all gone, silence fell and he allowed the hands he never knew had been raised to clutch his head to fall to his sides. For a moment Edward stared at the stone floor, lost in the recesses of his broken mind. He could hear Mustang calling to him, but his mind was elsewhere. A question rose to him, brought from the depths of his memories. Why?

_ Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy?_

**WHY?**

–

–

Havoc sighed heavily as he shut the door of the military truck, inside Mary had been fed, checked by the doctors and packed away to be taken to Central. She'd cried a bit after Mustang and the soldiers had gone into the caves, afraid that they would kill the man that she saw as her hero. With bit of coaxing, she'd been convinced to eat some food before she was due on the next train to Central Headquarters and had almost taken a shine to the Lieutenant. He returned her sad wave when the truck pulled away, he felt bad for the girl she hadn't meant for any of this to happen and yet the girl was happy it did. Whoever her mother had been, she'd done a number on the poor girl.

With Mustang and Hughes in the caves, he was left in charge of the soldiers while the Brigadier General was on the search and rescue for Roy. When a group of soldiers had rushed out in a panic they all feared the worst, when the soldiers said that a giant chimera had killed the Flame Alchemist a stone dropped into his stomach. They'd said it was unconfirmed, and his superior was notorious for coming back from close shaves but he worried all the same. Falman, Fuery and Breda had been the lucky ones, they'd gotten to stay back in Central while he and Riza had been chosen to travel three days away and go on a manhunt. Though he enjoyed the chance to get out in the field at the same time now that everything had happened he was almost regretting his decision.

He could only hope that they found the General, in the mean time he was in charge of a whole mess of soldiers and he needed to make sure that everything was running smoothly. Many of the men that had pulled up base in Misview reported to him every hour or so, after Mary had been carted off he was glad to have a moment to himself. Away from all the loud soldiers and the roar of trucks was a little clearing that wasn't taken over by the little, but spread out town. A calm pool of water sat undisturbed a ways away from the entrance of the cave, close enough he could keep an eye out for anyone rushing out but far enough away to have a bit of privacy. When he was sure he was out of sight Havoc let out a long sigh, snapping his neck back and forth to work out the stress, rolling his shoulders leisurely.

Maybe when they got back to Central he'd call up that massage therapist he'd gotten the number of, his shoulders would probably thank him for it. Ah, yes Tabitha, she was a beautiful woman. Beautiful hands above all else, Tabitha was very meticulous about the care of her skin and nails, not for her own vain agenda but for her clientele. She was a sweet girl on top of it all, always asked Havoc where he wanted to go and when he gave her free reign she always found middle ground with him. Though they'd only dated for a few weeks they stayed exceptionally good friends, dating just seemed to complicate too much between them and Havoc was glad to have a good female friend.

He slumped against a nearby tree and took a deep breath of mountain air, nothing like the air in Central where all the alchemists left their experiments burning at a constant. The air was much cleaner here, and even the soldiers were thankful for it. Havoc fished around in his pockets, finally coming up with a carton of cigarettes that he always carried with him. Two years prior he'd gotten together with a woman that had been an avid health nut, she'd actually helped him give up the cancer sticks and even start exercising again. They broke up when she caught him sneaking a smoke every once in a while, seriously it wasn't a big deal, he'd get stressed and smoke one sometimes maybe once a month or less. Shortly after he'd met Tabitha, but since she'd decided they were better as friends he'd left the package at home to rot.

Now though, stress was an understatement for how he felt, unless word came back soon about if Mustang was dead or alive he needed something not mind-altering to bring his nerves down. Pulling one out he quickly trapped it between his lips, the package found itself back in his pocket while he pulled out the box of matches. It struck and he touched it to the end, puffing on it a little and feeling the relief flood through his probably now blackened lungs. He took a deep breath and held it, the nicotine surging through his body before a snap nearby made him choke on his own smoke. Coughing, his watery eyes searched around for the culprit, he didn't expect a deer to be carefully lapping up water so close to him.

"Huh, well would you look at that..." he chuckled, the doe was still pretty young though obviously full grown she still had a few spots splattering her tanned rump.

Surprised that the deer was so close he took a drag off his cigarette and took a bit of peace in watching the deer, he'd never seen one come this close before with only a few yards between them. Tall ears swiveled around as it drank to keep a lookout for danger, it raised its head to look at him once but it seemed to dismiss him as a threat as it bent its long neck again. Havoc took peace in his nicotine, puffing quietly as he watched the deer drink he felt a bit of the tension leave his shoulders. Thin eyebrows lifted upwards when the doe's head snapped up, he felt himself almost flinch as well when the creature let out a rough snort and tried to dig in its hooves and dart away. Kicking up dirt and grass it spun towards the safety of the trees, but never made it.

The deer was ripped from his sight, suddenly overtaken by surging water and sand with teeth. Slowly the mound of water and sand that stayed suspended drew back into the water, dragging the struggling deer clamped tight between mostly camouflaged jaws. He could still see the tip of the muzzle and front legs struggling to free itself, Havoc froze when it stopped, turning a bright slitted eye to him. A loud bellow bounced off the stone nearby, alerting the soldiers he'd attempted to avoid for even a short amount of time. They ran to him, asking what had happened, seeing the remaining hoof that had been left behind when the deer had been taken.

"Well... " Havoc dropped his cigarette to the ground and nervously stepped it out, his face pale and eyes wide. "Would you look at that..."

Maybe he shouldn't have tried smoking that cigarette after all...

_Sorry for the extended disappearance guys. ^^; These next few chapters are being quite a doozy, can't seem to get this next chapter just how I want it. For now we have this, sorry it's so short! I am still working on this, I've been reading through it and changing a few things and drawing out a plot chart. As always Read and Review guys! I love seeing all your awesome comments! They're really beautiful and I love hearing from you!_


End file.
